Magnetic attachment system

ABSTRACT

An improved magnetic attachment system is provided that involves field emission structures having electric or magnetic field sources. The magnitudes, polarities, and positions of the magnetic or electric field sources are configured to have desirable correlation properties, which may be in accordance with a code. The correlation properties correspond to a desired spatial force function where spatial forces between field emission structures correspond to relative alignment, separation distance, and the spatial force function.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Non-provisional Application is a continuation of U.S.Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 12/206,271, filed Sep. 8, 2008,titled “A System and Method for Manufacturing a Field EmissionStructure”, which is a continuation of U.S. Non-Provisional applicationSer. No. 12/123,718, filed May 20, 2008, titled “A Field Emission Systemand Method”, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 61/123,019, filed Apr. 4, 2008, titled “A Field Emission Systemand Method”, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a field emission system andmethod. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system andmethod where correlated magnetic and/or electric field structures createspatial forces in accordance with the relative alignment of the fieldemission structures and a spatial force function.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Alignment characteristics of magnetic fields have been used to achieveprecision movement and positioning of objects. A key principle ofoperation of an alternating-current (AC) motor is that a permanentmagnet will rotate so as to maintain its alignment within an externalrotating magnetic field. This effect is the basis for the early ACmotors including the “Electro Magnetic Motor” for which Nikola Teslareceived U.S. Pat. No. 381,968 on May 1, 1888. On Jan. 19, 1938, MariusLavet received French Patent 823,395 for the stepper motor which hefirst used in quartz watches. Stepper motors divide a motor's fullrotation into a discrete number of steps. By controlling the timesduring which electromagnets around the motor are activated anddeactivated, a motor's position can be controlled precisely.Computer-controlled stepper motors are one of the most versatile formsof positioning systems. They are typically digitally controlled as partof an open loop system, and are simpler and more rugged than closed loopservo systems. They are used in industrial high speed pick and placeequipment and multi-axis computer numerical control (CNC) machines. Inthe field of lasers and optics they are frequently used in precisionpositioning equipment such as linear actuators, linear stages, rotationstages, goniometers, and mirror mounts. They are used in packagingmachinery, and positioning of valve pilot stages for fluid controlsystems. They are also used in many commercial products including floppydisk drives, flatbed scanners, printers, plotters and the like.

Although alignment characteristics of magnetic fields are used incertain specialized industrial environments and in a relatively limitednumber of commercial products, their use for precision alignmentpurposes is generally limited in scope. For the majority of processeswhere alignment of objects is important, e.g., residential construction,comparatively primitive alignment techniques and tools such as acarpenter's square and a level are more commonly employed. Moreover,long trusted tools and mechanisms for attaching objects together such ashammers and nails; screw drivers and screws; wrenches and nuts andbolts; and the like, when used with primitive alignment techniquesresult in far less than precise residential construction, which commonlyleads to death and injury when homes collapse, roofs are blown off instorms, etc. Generally, there is considerable amount of waste of timeand energy in most of the processes to which the average person hasgrown accustomed that are a direct result of imprecision of alignment ofassembled objects. Machined parts wear out sooner, engines are lessefficient resulting in higher pollution, buildings and bridges collapsedue to improper construction, and so on.

It has been discovered that various field emission properties can be putin use in a wide range of applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, the present invention is an improved field emission system andmethod. The invention pertains to field emission structures comprisingelectric or magnetic field sources having magnitudes, polarities, andpositions corresponding to a desired spatial force function where aspatial force is created based upon the relative alignment of the fieldemission structures and the spatial force function. The invention hereinis sometimes referred to as correlated magnetism, correlated fieldemissions, correlated magnets, coded magnetism, or coded fieldemissions. Structures of magnets arranged conventionally (or‘naturally’) where their interacting poles alternate are referred toherein as non-correlated magnetism, non-correlated magnets, non-codedmagnetism, or non-coded field emissions.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a field emissionsystem comprises a first field emission structure and a second fieldemission structure. The first and second field emission structures eachcomprise an array of field emission sources each having positions andpolarities relating to a desired spatial force function that correspondsto the relative alignment of the first and second field emissionstructures within a field domain. The positions and polarities of eachfield emission source of each array of field emission sources can bedetermined in accordance with at least one correlation function. The atleast one correlation function can be in accordance with at least onecode. The at least one code can be at least one of a pseudorandom code,a deterministic code, or a designed code. The at least one code can be aone dimensional code, a two dimensional code, a three dimensional code,or a four dimensional code.

Each field emission source of each array of field emission sources has acorresponding field emission amplitude and vector direction determinedin accordance with the desired spatial force function, where aseparation distance between the first and second field emissionstructures and the relative alignment of the first and second fieldemission structures creates a spatial force in accordance with thedesired spatial force function. The spatial force comprises at least oneof an attractive spatial force or a repellant spatial force. The spatialforce corresponds to a peak spatial force of said desired spatial forcefunction when said first and second field emission structures aresubstantially aligned such that each field emission source of said firstfield emission structure substantially aligns with a corresponding fieldemission source of said second field emission structure. The spatialforce can be used to produce energy, transfer energy, move an object,affix an object, automate a function, control a tool, make a sound, heatan environment, cool an environment, affect pressure of an environment,control flow of a fluid, control flow of a gas, and control centrifugalforces.

Under one arrangement, the spatial force is typically about an order ofmagnitude less than the peak spatial force when the first and secondfield emission structures are not substantially aligned such that fieldemission source of the first field emission structure substantiallyaligns with a corresponding field emission source of said second fieldemission structure.

A field domain corresponds to field emissions from the array of firstfield emission sources of the first field emission structure interactingwith field emissions from the array of second field emission sources ofthe second field emission structure.

The relative alignment of the first and second field emission structurescan result from a respective movement path function of at least one ofthe first and second field emission structures where the respectivemovement path function is one of a one-dimensional movement pathfunction, a two-dimensional movement path function or athree-dimensional movement path function. A respective movement pathfunction can be at least one of a linear movement path function, anon-linear movement path function, a rotational movement path function,a cylindrical movement path function, or a spherical movement pathfunction. A respective movement path function defines movement versustime for at least one of the first and second field emission structures,where the movement can be at least one of forward movement, backwardmovement, upward movement, downward movement, left movement, rightmovement, yaw, pitch, and or roll. Under one arrangement, a movementpath function would define a movement vector having a direction andamplitude that varies over time.

Each array of field emission sources can be one of a one-dimensionalarray, a two-dimensional array, or a three-dimensional array. Thepolarities of the field emission sources can be at least one ofNorth-South polarities or positive-negative polarities. At least one ofthe field emission sources comprises a magnetic field emission source oran electric field emission source. At least one of the field emissionsources can be a permanent magnet, an electromagnet, an electret, amagnetized ferromagnetic material, a portion of a magnetizedferromagnetic material, a soft magnetic material, or a superconductivemagnetic material. At least one of the first and second field emissionstructures can be at least one of a back keeper layer, a front saturablelayer, an active intermediate element, a passive intermediate element, alever, a latch, a swivel, a heat source, a heat sink, an inductive loop,a plating nichrome wire, an embedded wire, or a kill mechanism. At leastone of the first and second field emission structures can be a planerstructure, a conical structure, a cylindrical structure, a curvesurface, or a stepped surface.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a method ofcontrolling field emissions comprises defining a desired spatial forcefunction corresponding to the relative alignment of a first fieldemission structure and a second field emission structure within a fielddomain and establishing, in accordance with the desired spatial forcefunction, a position and polarity of each field emission source of afirst array of field emission sources corresponding to the first fieldemission structure and of each field emission source of a second arrayof field emission sources corresponding to the second field emissionstructure.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, a fieldemission system comprises a first field emission structure comprising aplurality of first field emission sources having positions andpolarities in accordance with a first correlation function and a secondfield emission structure comprising a plurality of second field emissionsource having positions and polarities in accordance with a secondcorrelation function, the first and second correlation functionscorresponding to a desired spatial force function, the first correlationfunction complementing the second correlation function such that eachfield emission source of said plurality of first field emission sourceshas a corresponding counterpart field emission source of the pluralityof second field emission sources and the first and second field emissionstructures will substantially correlate when each of the field emissionsource counterparts are substantially aligned.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most digit(s) of areference number identifies the drawing in which the reference numberfirst appears.

FIG. 1 depicts South and North poles and magnetic field vectors of anexemplary magnet;

FIG. 2 depicts iron filings oriented in the magnetic field produced by abar magnet;

FIG. 3 a depicts two magnets aligned such that their polarities areopposite in direction resulting in a repelling spatial force;

FIG. 3 b depicts two magnets aligned such that their polarities are thesame in direction resulting in an attracting spatial force;

FIG. 4 a depicts two magnets having substantial alignment;

FIG. 4 b depicts two magnets having partial alignment;

FIG. 4 c depicts different sized magnets having partial alignment;

FIG. 5 depicts a Barker length 7 code used to determine polarities andpositions of magnets making up a magnetic field emission structure whereall of the magnets have the same field strength;

FIG. 6 depicts the binary autocorrelation function of a Barker—7 code;

FIG. 7 depicts a Barker length 7 code used to determine polarities andpositions of magnets making up a first magnetic field emission structurewhere two of the magnets have different field strengths;

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary spatial force function of the two magneticfield emission structures of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 depicts exemplary code wrapping of a Barker length 7 code that isused to determine polarities and positions of magnets making up a firstmagnetic field emission structure;

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary spatial force function of the two magneticfield emission structures of FIG. 9 where the second magnetic fieldemission structure repeats;

FIGS. 11 a through 11 d depict 27 different alignments of two magneticfield emission structures where a Barker length 7 code is used todetermine polarities and positions of magnets making up a first magneticfield emission structure, which corresponds to two modulos of the Barkerlength 7 code end-to-end;

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary spatial force function of the two magneticfield emission structures of FIGS. 11 a through 11 d;

FIG. 13 a depicts an exemplary spatial force function of magnetic fieldemission structures produced by repeating a one-dimensional code acrossa second dimension N times where movement is across the code;

FIG. 13 b depicts an exemplary spatial force function of magnetic fieldemission structures produced by repeating a one-dimensional code acrossa second dimension N times where movement maintains alignment with up toall N coded rows of the structure and down to one;

FIG. 14 a depicts a two dimensional Barker-like code and a correspondingtwo-dimensional magnetic field emission structure;

FIG. 14 b depicts exemplary spatial force functions resulting frommirror image magnetic field emission structure and −90° rotated mirrorimage magnetic field emission structure moving across a magnetic fieldemission structure;

FIG. 14 c depicts variations of a magnetic field emission structurewhere rows are reordered randomly in an attempt to affect itsdirectionality characteristics;

FIGS. 14 d and 14 e depict exemplary spatial force functions of selectedmagnetic field emission structures having randomly reordered rows movingacross mirror image magnetic field emission structures both withoutrotation and as rotated −90, respectively;

FIG. 15 depicts an exemplary one-way slide lock codes and two-way slidelock codes;

FIG. 16 a depicts an exemplary hover code and corresponding magneticfield emission structures that never achieve substantial alignment;

FIG. 16 b depicts another exemplary hover code and correspondingmagnetic field emission structures that never achieve substantialalignment;

FIG. 16 c depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure where amirror image magnetic field emission structure corresponding to a 7×7barker-like code will hover anywhere above the structure provided itdoes not rotate;

FIG. 17 a depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structurecomprising nine magnets positioned such that they half overlap in onedirection;

FIG. 17 b depicts the spatial force function of the magnetic fieldemission structure of FIG. 17 a interacting with its mirror imagemagnetic field emission structure;

FIG. 18 a depicts an exemplary code intended to produce a magnetic fieldemission structure having a first stronger lock when aligned with itsmirror image magnetic field emission structure and a second weaker lockwhen rotated 90° relative to its mirror image magnetic field emissionstructure;

FIG. 18 b depicts an exemplary spatial force function of the exemplarymagnetic field emission structure of FIG. 18 a interacting with itsmirror magnetic field emission structure;

FIG. 18 c depicts an exemplary spatial force function of the exemplarymagnetic field emission structure of FIG. 18 a interacting with itsmirror magnetic field emission structure after being rotated 90°;

FIGS. 19 a-19 i depict the exemplary magnetic field emission structureof FIG. 18 a and its mirror image magnetic field emission structure andthe resulting spatial forces produced in accordance with their variousalignments as they are twisted relative to each other;

FIG. 20 a depicts exemplary magnetic field emission structures, anexemplary turning mechanism, an exemplary tool insertion slot, exemplaryalignment marks, an exemplary latch mechanism, and an exemplary axis foran exemplary pivot mechanism;

FIG. 20 b depicts exemplary magnetic field emission structures havingexemplary housings configured such that one housing can be insertedinside the other housing, exemplary alternative turning mechanism,exemplary swivel mechanism, an exemplary lever;

FIG. 20 c depicts an exemplary tool assembly including an exemplarydrill head assembly;

FIG. 20 d depicts an exemplary hole cutting tool assembly having anouter cutting portion including a magnetic field emission structure andinner cutting portion including a magnetic field emission structure;

FIG. 20 e depicts an exemplary machine press tool employing multiplelevels of magnetic field emission structures;

FIG. 20 f depicts a cross section of an exemplary gripping apparatusemploying a magnetic field emission structure involving multiple levelsof magnets;

FIG. 20 g depicts an exemplary clasp mechanism including a magneticfield emission structure slip ring mechanism;

FIG. 21 depicts exemplary magnetic field emission structures used toassemble structural members and a cover panel to produce an exemplarystructural assembly;

FIG. 22 depicts a table having beneath its surface a two-dimensionalelectromagnetic array where an exemplary movement platform havingcontact members with magnetic field emission structures can be moved byvarying the states of the individual electromagnets of theelectromagnetic array;

FIG. 23 depicts a cylinder inside another cylinder where either cylindercan be moved relative to the other cylinder by varying the state ofindividual electromagnets of an electromagnetic array associated withone cylinder relative to a magnetic field emission structure associatedwith the other cylinder;

FIG. 24 depicts a sphere inside another sphere where either sphere canbe moved relative to the other sphere by varying the state of individualelectromagnets of an electromagnetic array associated with one sphererelative to a magnetic field emission structure associated with theother sphere;

FIG. 25 depicts an exemplary cylinder having a magnetic field emissionstructure and a correlated surface where the magnetic field emissionstructure and the correlated surface provide traction and a grippingforce as the cylinder is turned;

FIG. 26 depicts an exemplary sphere having a magnetic field emissionstructure and a correlated surface where the magnetic field emissionstructure and the correlated surface provide traction and a grippingforce as the sphere is turned;

FIGS. 27 a and 27 b depict an arrangement where a magnetic fieldemission structure wraps around two cylinders such that a much largerportion of the magnetic field emission structure is in contact with acorrelated surface to provide additional traction and gripping force;

FIGS. 28 a through 28 d depict an exemplary method of manufacturingmagnetic field emission structures using a ferromagnetic material;

FIG. 29 depicts exemplary intermediate layers associated with a magneticfield emission structure;

FIGS. 30 a through 30 c provide a side view, an oblique projection, anda top view of a magnetic field emission structure having surroundingheat sink material and an exemplary embedded kill mechanism;

FIG. 31 a depicts exemplary distribution of magnetic forces over a widerarea to control the distance apart at which two magnetic field emissionstructures will engage when substantially aligned;

FIG. 31 b depicts a magnetic field emission structure made up of asparse array of large magnetic sources combined with a large number ofsmaller magnetic sources whereby alignment with a mirror magnetic fieldemission structure is provided by the large sources and a repel force isprovided by the smaller sources;

FIG. 32 depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure assemblyapparatus;

FIG. 33 depicts a turning cylinder having a repeating magnetic fieldemission structure used to affect movement of a curved surface havingthe same magnetic field emission structure coding;

FIG. 34 depicts an exemplary valve mechanism;

FIG. 35 depicts and exemplary cylinder apparatus;

FIG. 36 a depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure made upof rings about a circle;

FIG. 36 b depicts and exemplary hinge produced using alternatingmagnetic field emission structures made up of rings about a circle suchas depicted in FIG. 36 a;

FIG. 36 c depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure havingsources resembling spokes of a wheel;

FIG. 36 d depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structureresembling a rotary encoder;

FIG. 36 e depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure havingsources arranged as curved spokes;

FIG. 36 f depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure made upof hexagon-shaped sources;

FIG. 36 g depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure made upof triangular sources; and

FIG. 36 h depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure made upof partially overlapped diamond-shaped sources.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described more fully in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which the preferredembodiments of the invention are shown. This invention should not,however, be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein;rather, they are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

FIG. 1 depicts South and North poles and magnetic field vectors of anexemplary magnet. Referring to FIG. 1, a magnet 100 has a South pole 102and a North pole 104. Also depicted are magnetic field vectors 106 thatrepresent the direction and magnitude of the magnet's moment. North andSouth poles are also referred to herein as positive (+) and negative (−)poles, respectively. In accordance with the invention, magnets can bepermanent magnets, impermanent magnets, electromagnets, involve hard orsoft material, and can be superconductive. In some applications, magnetscan be replaced by electrets. Magnets can be most any size from verylarge to very small to include nanometer scale. In the case ofnon-superconducting materials there is a smallest size limit of onedomain. When a material is made superconductive, however, the magneticfield that is within it can be as complex as desired and there is nopractical lower size limit until you get to atomic scale. Magnets mayalso be created at atomic scale as electric and magnetic fields producedby molecular size structures may be tailored to have correlatedproperties, e.g. nanomaterials and macromolecules.

At the nanometer scale, one or more single domains can be used forcoding where each single domain has a code and the quantization of themagnetic field would be the domain.

FIG. 2 depicts iron filings oriented in the magnetic field 200 (i.e.,field domain) produced by a single bar magnet.

FIG. 3 a depicts two magnets aligned such that their polarities areopposite in direction resulting in a repelling spatial force. Referringto FIG. 3 a, two magnets 100 a and 100 b are aligned such that theirpolarities are opposite in direction. Specifically, a first magnet 100 ahas a South pole 102 on the left and a North pole 104 on the right,whereas a second magnet 100 b has a North pole 104 on the left and aSouth pole 102 on the right such that when aligned the magnetic fieldvectors 106 a of the first magnet 100 a are directed against themagnetic field vectors 106 b of the second magnet 100 b resulting in arepelling spatial force 300 that causes the two magnets to repel eachother.

FIG. 3 b depicts two magnets aligned such that their polarities are thesame in direction resulting in an attracting spatial force. Referring toFIG. 3 b, two magnets 100 a and 100 b are aligned such that theirpolarities are in the same direction. Specifically, a first magnet 100 ahas a South pole 102 on the left and a North pole 104 on the right, anda second magnet 100 b also has South pole 102 on the left and a Northpole 104 on the right such that when aligned the magnetic field vectors106 a of the first magnet 100 a are directed the same as the magneticfield vectors 106 a of the second magnet 100 b resulting in anattracting spatial force 302 that causes the two magnets to attract eachother.

FIG. 4 a depicts two magnets 100 a 100 b having substantial alignment400 such that the North pole 104 of the first magnet 100 a hassubstantially full contact across its surface with the surface of theSouth pole 102 of the second magnet 100 b.

FIG. 4 b depicts two magnets 100 a, 100 b having partial alignment 402such that the North pole 104 of the first magnet 100 a is in contactacross its surface with approximately two-thirds of the surface of theSouth pole 102 of the second magnet 100 b.

FIG. 4 c depicts a first sized magnet 100 a and smaller different sizedmagnets 100 b 100 c having partial alignment 404. As seen in FIG. 4 c,the two smaller magnets 100 b and 100 c are aligned differently with thelarger magnet 100 a.

Generally, one skilled in the art will recognize in relation to FIGS. 4a through 4 b that the direction of the vectors 106 a of the attractingmagnets will cause them to align in the same direction as the vectors106 a. However, the magnets can be moved relative to each other suchthat they have partial alignment yet they will still ‘stick’ to eachother and maintain their positions relative to each other.

In accordance with the present invention, combinations of magnet (orelectric) field emission sources, referred to herein as magnetic fieldemission structures, can be created in accordance with codes havingdesirable correlation properties. When a magnetic field emissionstructure is brought into alignment with a complementary, or mirrorimage, magnetic field emission structure the various magnetic fieldemission sources all align causing a peak spatial attraction force to beproduced whereby misalignment of the magnetic field emission structurescauses the various magnetic field emission sources to substantiallycancel each other out as function of the code used to design thestructures. Similarly, when a magnetic field emission structure isbrought into alignment with a duplicate magnetic field emissionstructure the various magnetic field emission sources all align causinga peak spatial repelling force to be produced whereby misalignment ofthe magnetic field emission structures causes the various magnetic fieldemission sources to substantially cancel each other out. As such,spatial forces are produced in accordance with the relative alignment ofthe field emission structures and a spatial force function. As describedherein, these spatial force functions can be used to achieve precisionalignment and precision positioning. Moreover, these spatial forcefunctions enable the precise control of magnetic fields and associatedspatial forces thereby enabling new forms of attachment devices forattaching objects with precise alignment and new systems and methods forcontrolling precision movement of objects. Generally, a spatial forcehas a magnitude that is a function of the relative alignment of twomagnetic field emission structures and their corresponding spatial force(or correlation) function, the spacing (or distance) between the twomagnetic field emission structures, and the magnetic field strengths andpolarities of the sources making up the two magnetic field emissionstructures.

The characteristic of the present invention whereby the various magneticfield sources making up two magnetic field emission structures caneffectively cancel out each other when they are brought out of alignmentcan be described as a release force (or a release mechanism). Thisrelease force or release mechanism is a direct result of the correlationcoding used to produce the magnetic field emission structures and,depending on the code employed, can be present regardless of whether thealignment of the magnetic field emission structures corresponds to arepelling force or an attraction force.

One skilled in the art of coding theory will recognize that there aremany different types of codes having different correlation propertiesthat have been used in communications for channelization purposes,energy spreading, modulation, and other purposes. Many of the basiccharacteristics of such codes make them applicable for use in producingthe magnetic field emission structures described herein. For example,Barker codes are known for their autocorrelation properties. Although,Barker codes are used herein for exemplary purposes, other forms ofcodes well known in the art because of their autocorrelation,cross-correlation, or other properties are also applicable to thepresent invention including, for example, Gold codes, Kasami sequences,hyperbolic congruential codes, quadratic congruential codes, linearcongruential codes, Welch-Costas array codes, Golomb-Costas array codes,pseudorandom codes, chaotic codes, and Optimal Golomb Ruler codes.Generally, any code can be employed.

The correlation principles of the present invention may or may notrequire overcoming normal ‘magnet orientation’ behavior using a holdingmechanism. For example, magnets of the same magnetic field emissionstructure can be sparsely separated from other magnets (e.g., in asparse array) such that the magnetic forces of the individual magnets donot substantially interact, in which case the polarity of individualmagnets can be varied in accordance with a code without requiring asubstantial holding force to prevent magnetic forces from ‘flipping’ amagnet. Magnets that are close enough such that their magnetic forcessubstantially interact such that their magnetic forces would normallycause one of them to ‘flip’ so that their moment vectors align can bemade to remain in a desired orientation by use of a holding mechanismsuch as an adhesive, a screw, a bolt & nut, etc.

FIG. 5 depicts a Barker length 7 code used to determine polarities andpositions of magnets making up a magnetic field emission structure.Referring to FIG. 5, a Barker length 7 code 500 is used to determine thepolarities and the positions of magnets making up a first magnetic fieldemission structure 502. Each magnet has the same or substantially thesame magnetic field strength (or amplitude), which for the sake of thisexample is provided a unit of 1 (where A=Attract, R=Repel, A=−R, A=1,R=−1). A second magnetic field emission structure that is identical tothe first is shown in 13 different alignments 502-1 through 502-13relative to the first magnetic field emission structure 502. For eachrelative alignment, the number of magnets that repel plus the number ofmagnets that attract is calculated, where each alignment has a spatialforce in accordance with a spatial force function based upon thecorrelation function and magnetic field strengths of the magnets. Withthe specific Barker code used, the spatial force varies from −1 to 7,where the peak occurs when the two magnetic field emission structuresare aligned such that their respective codes are aligned. The off peakspatial force, referred to as a side lobe force, varies from 0 to −1. Assuch, the spatial force function causes the magnetic field emissionstructures to generally repel each other unless they are aligned suchthat each of their magnets is correlated with a complementary magnet(i.e., a magnet's South pole aligns with another magnet's North pole, orvice versa). In other words, the two magnetic field emission structuressubstantially correlate when they are aligned such that theysubstantially mirror each other.

FIG. 6 depicts the binary autocorrelation function 600 of the Barker—7code, where the values at each alignment position 1 through 13correspond to the spatial force values calculated for the thirteenalignment positions shown in FIG. 5. As such, since the magnets makingup the magnetic field emission structures of FIG. 5 have the samemagnetic field strengths, FIG. 6 also depicts the spatial force functionof the two magnetic field emission structures of FIG. 5. As the trueautocorrelation function for correlated magnet field structures isrepulsive, and most of the uses envisioned will have attractivecorrelation peaks, the usage of the term ‘autocorrelation’ herein willrefer to complementary correlation unless otherwise stated. That is, theinteracting faces of two such correlated magnetic field emissionstructures will be complementary to (i.e., mirror images of) each other.This complementary autocorrelation relationship can be seen in FIG. 5where the bottom face of the first magnetic field emission structure 502having the pattern ‘S S S N N S N’ is shown interacting with the topface of the second magnetic field emission structures 502-1 through502-13 each having the pattern ‘N N N S S N S’, which is the mirrorimage (pattern) of the bottom face of the first magnetic field emissionstructure 502.

FIG. 7 depicts a Barker length 7 code 500 used to determine polaritiesand positions of magnets making up a first magnetic field emissionstructure 502. Each magnet has the same or substantially the samemagnetic field strength (or amplitude), which for the sake of thisexample is provided a unit of 1 (A=−R, A=1, R=−1), with the exception oftwo magnets indicated with bolded N and S that have twice the magneticstrength as the other magnets. As such, a bolded magnet and non-boldedmagnet represent 1.5 times the strength as two non-bolded magnets andtwo bolded magnets represent twice the strength of two non-boldedmagnets. A second magnetic field emission structure that is identical tothe first is shown in 13 different alignments 502-1 through 502-13relative to the first magnetic field emission structure. For eachrelative alignment, the number of magnets that repel plus the number ofmagnets that attract is calculated, where each alignment has a spatialforce in accordance with a spatial force function based upon thecorrelation function and the magnetic field strengths of the magnets.With the specific Barker code used, the spatial force varies from −2.5to 9, where the peak occurs when the two magnetic field emissionstructures are aligned such that their respective codes are aligned. Theoff peak spatial force, referred to as the side lobe force, varies from0.5 to −2.5. As such, the spatial force function causes the structuresto have minor repel and attract forces until about two-thirds alignedwhen there is a fairly strong repel force that weakens just before theyare aligned. When the structures are substantially aligned their codesalign and they strongly attract as if the magnets in the structures werenot coded.

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary spatial force function 800 of the twomagnetic field emission structures of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 depicts a code wrapping example of a Barker length 7 code 500used to determine the polarities and the positions of magnets making upa first magnetic field emission structure 502. Each magnet has the sameor substantially the same magnetic field strength (or amplitude), whichfor the sake of this example will be provided a unit of 1 (A=−R, A=1,R=−1). A second magnetic field emission structure 902 that correspondsto repeating code modulos of the first magnetic field emission structureis shown in 13 different alignments 902-1 through 902-13 relative to thefirst magnetic field emission structure 502 such that the first magneticstructure is in contact with the repeating second magnetic fieldemission structure. For each relative alignment, the number of magnetsthat repel plus the number of magnets that attract is calculated, whereeach alignment has a spatial force in accordance with a spatial forcefunction based upon the correlation function and the magnetic fieldstrengths of the magnets. With the specific Barker code used, thespatial force varies from −1 to 7, where the peak occurs when the twomagnetic field emission structures are aligned such that theirrespective codes are aligned. The off peak spatial force, referred to asside lobe force, is −1. As such, the spatial force function causes thestructures to generally repel each other unless they are substantiallyaligned when they will attract as if the magnets in the structures werenot coded.

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary spatial force function 1000 of the twomagnetic field emission structures of FIG. 9 where the second magneticfield emission structure repeats. As such, there is a peak spatial forcethat repeats every seven alignment shifts.

FIGS. 11 a through 11 d depict 27 different alignments 902-1 through902-27 of two magnetic field emission structures 902 where a Barker codeof length 7 is used to determine the polarities and the positions ofmagnets making up a first magnetic field emission structure 902, whichcorresponds to two modulos of the Barker length 7 code end-to-end. Eachmagnet has the same or substantially the same magnetic field strength(or amplitude), which for the sake of this example is provided a unit of1 (A=−R, A=1, R=−1). A second magnetic field emission structure that isidentical to the first is shown in 27 different alignments 902-1 through902-27 relative to the first magnetic field emission structure. For eachrelative alignment, the number of magnets that repel plus the number ofmagnets that attract is calculated, where each alignment has a spatialforce in accordance with a spatial force function based upon thecorrelation function and magnetic field strengths of the magnets. Withthe specific Barker code used, the spatial force varies from −2 to 14,where the peak occurs when the two magnetic field emission structuresare aligned such that their respective codes are aligned. Two secondarypeaks occur when the structures are half aligned such that one of thesuccessive codes of one structure aligns with one of the codes of thesecond structure. The off peak spatial force, referred to as the sidelobe force, varies from −1 to −2 between the peak and secondary peaksand between 0 and −1 outside the secondary peaks.

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary spatial force function of the two magneticfield emission structures of FIGS. 11 a through 11 d. Based on FIG. 5and FIG. 10, FIG. 12 corresponds to the spatial functions in FIG. 5 andFIG. 10 added together.

FIG. 13 a and FIG. 13 b illustrate the spatial force functions ofmagnetic field emission structures produced by repeating aone-dimensional code across a second dimension N times (i.e., in rowseach having same coding) where in FIG. 13 a the movement is across thecode (i.e., as in FIG. 5) or in FIG. 13 b the movement maintainsalignment with up to all N coded rows of the structure and down to one.

FIG. 14 a depicts a two dimensional Barker-like code 1400 and acorresponding two-dimensional magnetic field emission structure 1402 a.Referring to FIG. 14 a, two dimensional Barker-like code 1400 is createdby copying each row to a new row below, shifting the code in the new rowto the left by one, and then wrapping the remainder to the right side.When applied to a two-dimensional field emission structure 1402 ainteresting rotation-dependent correlation characteristics are produced.Shown in FIG. 14 a is a two-dimensional mirror image field emissionstructure 1402 b, which is also shown rotated −90°, −180°, and −270° as1402 c-1402 e, respectively. Autocorrelation cross-sections werecalculated for the four rotations of the mirror image field emissionstructure 1402 b-1402 e moving across the magnetic field emissionstructure 1402 a in the same direction 1404. Four corresponding numericautocorrelation cross-sections 1406, 1408, 1410, and 1412, respectively,are shown. As indicated, when the mirror image is passed across themagnetic field emission structure 1402 a each column has a net 1R (or−1) spatial force and as additional columns overlap, the net spatialforces add up until the entire structure aligns (+49) and then the repelforce decreases as less and less columns overlap. With −90° and −270°degree rotations, there is symmetry but erratic correlation behavior.With −180° degrees rotation, symmetry is lost and correlationfluctuations are dramatic. The fluctuations can be attributed todirectionality characteristics of the shift left and wrap approach usedto generate the structure 1402 a, which caused upper right to lower leftdiagonals to be produced which when the mirror image was rotated −180°,these diagonals lined up with the rotated mirror image diagonals.

FIG. 14 b depicts exemplary spatial force functions resulting from amirror image magnetic field emission structure and a mirror imagemagnetic field emission structure rotated −90° moving across themagnetic field emission structure. Referring to FIG. 14 b, spatial forcefunction 1414 results from the mirror image magnetic field emissionstructure 1402 b moving across the magnetic field emission structure1402 a in a direction 1404 and spatial force function 1416 results fromthe mirror image magnetic field emission structure rotated −90° 1402 cmoving across magnetic field emission structure 1402 a in the samedirection 1404. Characteristics of the spatial force function depictedin FIG. 12 may be consistent with a diagonal cross-section from 0,0 to40,40 of spatial force function 1414 and at offsets parallel to thatdiagonal. Additionally, characteristics of the spatial force functiondepicted in FIG. 13 b may be consistent with a diagonal from 40,0 to0,40 of spatial force function 1414.

FIG. 14 c depicts variations of magnetic field emission structure 1402 awhere rows are reordered randomly in an attempt to affect itsdirectionality characteristics. As shown, the rows of 1402 a arenumbered from top to bottom 1421 through 1427. A second magnetic fieldemission structure 1430 is produced by reordering the rows to 1427,1421, 1424, 1423, 1422, 1426, and 1425. When viewing the seven columnsproduced, each follows the Barker 7 code pattern wrapping downward. Athird magnetic field emission structure 1432 is produced by reorderingthe rows to 1426, 1424, 1421, 1425, 1423, 1427, and 1422. When viewingthe seven columns produced, the first, second, and sixth columns do notfollow the Barker 7 code pattern while the third column follows theBarker 7 code pattern wrapping downward while the fourth, fifth andseven columns follow the Barker 7 code pattern wrapping upward. A fourthmagnetic field emission structure 1434 is produced by reordering therows 1425, 1421, 1427, 1424, 1422, 1426, and 1423. When viewing theseven columns produced, each follows the Barker 7 code pattern wrappingupward.

FIG. 14 d depicts a spatial force function 1436 resulting from thesecond magnetic field emission structure 1430 moving across its mirrorimage structure in one direction 1404 and a spatial force function 1438resulting from the second magnetic field emission structure 1430 afterbeing rotated −90° moving in the same direction 1404 across the mirrorimage of the second magnetic field emission structure 1430.

FIG. 14 e depicts a spatial force function 1440 resulting from fourthmagnetic field emission structure 1434 moving across its mirror imagemagnetic field emission structure in a direction 1404 and a spatialforce function 1442 resulting from the fourth magnetic field emissionstructure 1434 being rotated −90° and moving in the same direction 1404across its mirror image magnetic field emission structure.

FIG. 15 depicts exemplary one-way slide lock codes and two-way slidelock codes. Referring to FIG. 15, a 19×7 two-way slide lock code 1500 isproduced by starting with a copy of the 7×7 code 1402 and then by addingthe leftmost 6 columns of the 7×7 code 1402 a to the right of the code1500 and the rightmost 6 columns of the 7×7 code to the left of the code1550. As such, as the mirror image 1402 b slides from side-to-side, all49 magnets are in contact with the structure producing theautocorrelation curve of FIG. 10 from positions 1 to 13. Similarly, a7×19 two-way slide lock code 1504 is produced by adding the bottommost 6rows of the 7×7 code 1402 a to the top of the code 1504 and the topmost6 rows of the 7×7 code 140 a to the bottom of the code 1504. The twostructures 1500 and 1504 behave the same where as a magnetic fieldemission structure 1402 a is slid from side to side it will lock in thecenter with +49 while at any other point off center it will be repelledwith a force of −7. Similarly, one-way slide lock codes 1506, 1508,1510, and 1512 are produced by adding six of seven rows or columns suchthat the code only partially repeats. Generally, various configurations(i.e., plus shapes, L shapes, Z shapes, donuts, crazy eight, etc.) canbe created by continuing to add partial code modulos onto the structuresprovided in FIG. 15. As such, various types of locking mechanisms can bedesigned.

FIG. 16 a depicts a hover code 1600 produced by placing two code modulos1402 a side-by-side and then removing the first and last columns of theresulting structure. As such, a mirror image 1402 b can be moved acrossa resulting magnetic field emission structure from one side 1602 a tothe other side 1602 f and at all times achieve a spatial force functionof −7. Hover channel (or box) 1604 is shown where mirror image 1402 b ishovering over a magnetic field emission structure produced in accordancewith hover code 1600. With this approach, a mirror image 1402 b can beraised or lowered by increasing or decreasing the magnetic fieldstrength of the magnetic field emission structure below. Similarly, ahover channel 1606 is shown where a mirror image 1402 is hoveringbetween two magnetic field emission structures produced in accordancewith the hover code 1600. With this approach, the mirror image 1402 bcan be raised or lowered by increasing and decreasing the magnetic fieldstrengths of the magnetic field emission structure below and themagnetic field emission structure above. As with the slide lock codes,various configurations can be created where partial code modulos areadded to the structure shown to produce various movement areas abovewhich the movement of a hovering object employing magnetic fieldemission structure 1402 b can be controlled via control of the strengthof the magnetic in the structure and/or using other forces.

FIG. 16 b depicts a hover code 1608 produced by placing two code modulos1402 a one on top of the other and then removing the first and lastrows. As such, mirror image 1402 b can be moved across a resultingmagnetic field emission structure from upper side 1610 a to the bottomside 1610 f and at all time achieve a spatial force function of −7.

FIG. 16 c depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure 1612where a mirror image magnetic field emission structure 1402 b of a 7×7barker-like code will hover with a −7 (repel) force anywhere above thestructure 1612 provided it is properly oriented (i.e., no rotation).Various sorts of such structures can be created using partial codemodulos. Should one or more rows or columns of magnets have its magneticstrength increased (or decreased) then the magnetic field emissionstructure 1402 b can be caused to move in a desired direction and at adesired velocity. For example, should the bolded column of magnets 1614have magnetic strengths that are increased over the strengths of therest of the magnets of the structure 1612, the magnetic field emissionstructure 1402 b will be propelled to the left. As the magnetic fieldemission structure moves to the left, successive columns to the rightmight be provided the same magnetic strengths as column 1614 such thatthe magnetic field emission structure is repeatedly moved leftward. Whenthe structure 1402 b reaches the left side of the structure 1612 themagnets along the portion of the row beneath the top of structure 1402 bcould then have their magnetic strengths increased causing structure1402 b to be moved downward. As such, various modifications to thestrength of magnets in the structure can be varied to effect movement ofstructure 1402 b. Referring again to FIGS. 16 a and 16 b, one skilled inthe art would recognize that the slide-lock codes could be similarlyimplemented so that when structure 1402 b is slid further and furtheraway from the alignment location (shown by the dark square), themagnetic strength of each row (or column) would become more and moreincreased. As such, structure 1402 b could be slowly or quickly repelledback into its lock location. For example, a drawer using the slide-lockcode with varied magnetic field strengths for rows (or columns) outsidethe alignment location could cause the drawer to slowly close until itlocked in place. Variations of magnetic field strengths can also beimplemented per magnet and do not require all magnets in a row (orcolumn) to have the same strength.

FIG. 17 a depicts a magnetic field emission structure 1702 comprisingnine magnets positioned such that they half overlap in one direction.The structure is designed to have a peak spatial force when(substantially) aligned and have relatively minor side lobe strength atany rotation off alignment.

FIG. 17 b depicts the spatial force function 1704 of a magnetic fieldemission structure 1702 interacting with its mirror image magnetic fieldemission structure. The peak occurs when substantially aligned.

FIG. 18 a depicts an exemplary code 1802 intended to produce a magneticfield emission structure having a first stronger lock when aligned withits mirror image magnetic field emission structure and a second weakerlock when rotated 90° relative to its mirror image magnetic fieldemission structure.

FIG. 18 b depicts spatial force function 1804 of a magnetic fieldemission structure 1802 interacting with its mirror image magnetic fieldemission structure. The peak occurs when substantially aligned.

FIG. 18 c depicts the spatial force function 1804 of magnetic fieldemission structure 1802 interacting with its mirror magnetic fieldemission structure after being rotated 90°. The peak occurs whensubstantially aligned but one structure rotated 90°.

FIGS. 19 a-19 i depict the exemplary magnetic field emission structure1802 a and its mirror image magnetic field emission structure 1802 b andthe resulting spatial forces produced in accordance with their variousalignments as they are twisted relative to each other. In FIG. 19 a, themagnetic field emission structure 1802 a and the mirror image magneticfield emission structure 1802 b are aligned producing a peak spatialforce. In FIG. 19 b, the mirror image magnetic field emission structure1802 b is rotated clockwise slightly relative to the magnetic fieldemission structure 1802 a and the attractive force reducessignificantly. In FIG. 19 c, the mirror image magnetic field emissionstructure 1802 b is further rotated and the attractive force continuesto decrease. In FIG. 19 d, the mirror image magnetic field emissionstructure 1802 b is still further rotated until the attractive forcebecomes very small, such that the two magnetic field emission structuresare easily separated as shown in FIG. 19 e. Given the two magnetic fieldemission structures held somewhat apart as in FIG. 19 e, the structurescan be moved closer and rotated towards alignment producing a smallspatial force as in FIG. 19 f. The spatial force increases as the twostructures become more and more aligned in FIGS. 19 g and 19 h and apeak spatial force is achieved when aligned as in FIG. 19 i. It shouldbe noted that the direction of rotation was arbitrarily chosen and maybe varied depending on the code employed. Additionally, the mirror imagemagnetic field emission structure 1802 b is the mirror of magnetic fieldemission structure 1802 a resulting in an attractive peak spatial force.The mirror image magnetic field emission structure 1802 b couldalternatively be coded such that when aligned with the magnetic fieldemission structure 1802 a the peak spatial force would be a repellingforce in which case the directions of the arrows used to indicateamplitude of the spatial force corresponding to the different alignmentswould be reversed such that the arrows faced away from each other.

FIG. 20 a depicts two magnetic field emission structures 1802 a and 1802b. One of the magnetic field emission structures 1802 b includes aturning mechanism 2000 that includes a tool insertion slot 2002. Bothmagnetic field emission structures include alignment marks 2004 along anaxis 2003. A latch mechanism such as the hinged latch clip 2005 a andlatch knob 2005 b may also be included preventing movement (particularlyturning) of the magnetic field emission structures once aligned. Underone arrangement, a pivot mechanism (not shown) could be used to connectthe two structures 1802 a, 1802 b at a pivot point such as at pivotlocation marks 2004 thereby allowing the two structures to be moved intoor out of alignment via a circular motion about the pivot point (e.g.,about the axis 2003).

FIG. 20 b depicts a first circular magnetic field emission structurehousing 2006 and a second circular magnetic field emission structurehousing 2008 configured such that the first housing 2006 can be insertedinto the second housing 2008. The second housing 2008 is attached to analternative turning mechanism 2010 that is connected to a swivelmechanism 2012 that would normally be attached to some other object.Also shown is a lever 2013 that can be used to provide turning leverage.

FIG. 20 c depicts an exemplary tool assembly 2014 including a drill headassembly 2016. The drill head assembly 2016 comprises a first housing2006 and a drill bit 2018. The tool assembly 2014 also includes a drillhead turning assembly 2020 comprising a second housing 2008. The firsthousing 2006 includes raised guides 2022 that are configured to slideinto guide slots 2024 of the second housing 2008. The second housing2008 includes a first rotating shaft 2026 used to turn the drill headassembly 2016. The second housing 2008 also includes a second rotatingshaft 2028 used to align the first housing 2006 and the second housing2008.

FIG. 20 d depicts an exemplary hole cutting tool assembly 2030 having anouter cutting portion 3032 including a first magnetic field emissionstructure 1802 a and an inner cutting portion 2034 including a secondmagnetic field emission structure 1802 b. The outer cutting portion 2032comprises a first housing 2036 having a cutting edge 2038. The firsthousing 2036 is connected to a sliding shaft 2040 having a first bumppad 2042 and a second bump pad 2044. It is configured to slide back andforth inside a guide 2046, where movement is controlled by the spatialforce function of the first and second magnetic field emissionstructures 1802 a and 1802 b. The inner cutting portion 2034 comprises asecond housing 2048 having a cutting edge 2050. The second housing 2048is maintained in a fixed position by a first shaft 2052. The secondmagnetic field emission structure 1802 b is turned using a shaft 2054 soas to cause the first and second magnetic field emission structures 1802a and 1802 b to align momentarily at which point the outer cuttingportion 2032 is propelled towards the inner cutting potion 2034 suchthat cutting edges 2038 and 2050 overlap. The circumference of the firsthousing 2036 is slightly larger than the second housing 2048 so as tocause the two cutting edges 2038 and 2050 to precisely cut a hole insomething passing between them (e.g., cloth). As the shaft 2054continues to turn, the first and second magnetic field emissionstructures 1802 a and 1802 b quickly become misaligned whereby the outercutting portion 2032 is propelled away from the inner cutting portion2034. Furthermore, if the shaft 2054 continues to turn at somerevolution rate (e.g., 1 revolution/second) then that rate defines therate at which holes are cut (e.g., in the cloth). As such, the spatialforce function can be controlled as a function of the movement of thetwo objects to which the first and second magnetic field emissionstructures are associated. In this instance, the outer cutting portion3032 can move from left to right and the inner cutting portion 2032turns at some revolution rate.

FIG. 20 e depicts an exemplary machine press tool comprising a bottomportion 2058 and a top portion 2060. The bottom portion 2058 comprises afirst tier 2062 including a first magnetic field emission structure 1802a, a second tier 2064 including a second magnetic field emissionstructure 2066 a, and a flat surface 2068 having below it a thirdmagnetic field emission structure 2070 a. The top portion 2060 comprisesa first tier 2072 including a fourth magnetic field emission structure1802 b having mirror coding as the first magnetic field emissionstructure 1802 a, a second tier 2074 including a fifth magnetic fieldemission structure 2066 b having mirror coding as the second magneticfield emission structure 2066 a, and a third tier 2076 including a sixthmagnetic field emission structure 2070 b having mirror coding as thethird magnetic field emission structure 2070 a. The second and thirdtiers of the top portion 2060 are configured to receive the two tiers ofthe bottom portion 2058. As the bottom and top portions 2058, 2060 arebrought close to each other and the top portion 2060 becomes alignedwith the bottom portion 2058 the spatial force functions of thecomplementary pairs of magnetic field emission structures causes apressing of any material (e.g., aluminum) that is placed between the twoportions. By turning either the bottom portion 2058 or the top portion2060, the magnetic field emission structures become misaligned such thatthe two portions separate.

FIG. 20 f depicts an exemplary gripping apparatus 2078 including a firstpart 2080 and a second part 2082. The first part 2080 comprises a sawtooth or stairs like structure where each tooth (or stair) hascorresponding magnets making up a first magnetic field emissionstructure 2084 a. The second part 2082 also comprises a saw tooth orstairs like structure where each tooth (or stair) has correspondingmagnets making up a second magnetic field emission structure 2084 b thatis a mirror image of the first magnetic field emission structure 2084 a.Under one arrangement each of the two parts shown are cross-sections ofparts that have the same cross section as rotated up to 360° about acenter axis 2086. Generally, the present invention can be used toproduce all sorts of holding mechanism such as pliers, jigs, clamps,etc. As such, the present invention can provide a precise gripping forceand inherently maintains precision alignment.

FIG. 20 g depicts an exemplary clasp mechanism 2090 including a firstpart 2092 and a second part 2094. The first part 2092 includes a firsthousing 2008 supporting a first magnetic field emission structure. Thesecond part 2094 includes a second housing 2006 used to support a secondmagnetic field emission structure. The second housing 2006 includesraised guides 2022 that are configured to slide into guide slots 2024 ofthe first housing 2008. The first housing 2008 is also associated with amagnetic field emission structure slip ring mechanism 2096 that can beturned to rotate the magnetic field emission structure of the first part2092 so as to align or misalign the two magnetic field emissionstructures of the clasp mechanism 2090. Generally, all sorts of claspmechanisms can be constructed in accordance with the present inventionwhereby a slip ring mechanism can be turned to cause the clasp mechanismto release. Such clasp mechanisms can be used as receptacle plugs,plumbing connectors, connectors involving piping for air, water, steam,or any compressible or incompressible fluid. The technology is alsoapplicable to Bayonette Neil-Concelman (BNC) electronic connectors,Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectors, and most any other type ofconnector used for any purpose.

The gripping force described above can also be described as a matingforce. As such, in certain electronics applications this ability toprovide a precision mating force between two electronic parts or as partof a connection may correspond to a desired characteristic, for example,a desired impedance. Furthermore, the invention is applicable toinductive power coupling where a first magnetic field emission structurethat is driven with AC will achieve inductive power coupling whenaligned with a second magnetic field emission structure made of a seriesof solenoids whose coils are connected together with polaritiesaccording to the same code used to produce the first magnetic fieldemission structure. When not aligned, the fields will close onthemselves since they are so close to each other in the driven magneticfield emission structure and thereby conserve power. Ordinaryinductively coupled systems' pole pieces are rather large and cannotconserve their fields in this way since the air gap is so large.

FIG. 21 depicts a first elongated structural member 2102 having magneticfield emission structures 2104 on each of two ends and also having analignment marking 2106 (“AA”). FIG. 21 also depicts a second elongatedstructural member 2108 having magnetic field emission structures 2110 onboth ends of one side. The magnetic field emission structures 2104 and2110 are configured such that they can be aligned to attach the firstand second structural members 2102 and 2108. FIG. 21 further depicts astructural assembly 2112 including two of the first elongated structuralmembers 2102 attached to two of the second elongated structural members2108 whereby four magnetic field emission structure pairs 2104/2110 arealigned. FIG. 21 includes a cover panel 2114 having four magnetic fieldemission structures 1802 a that are configured to align with fourmagnetic field emission structures 1802 b to attach the cover panel 2114to the structural assembly 2112 to produce a covered structural assembly2116.

Generally, the ability to easily turn correlated magnetic structuressuch that they disengage is a function of the torque easily created by aperson's hand by the moment arm of the structure. The larger it is, thelarger the moment arm, which acts as a lever. When two separatestructures are physically connected via a structural member, as with thecover panel 2114, the ability to use torque is defeated because themoment arms are reversed. This reversal is magnified with eachadditional separate structure connected via structural members in anarray. The force is proportional to the distance between respectivestructures, where torque is proportional to force times radius. As such,under one arrangement, the magnetic field emission structures of thecovered structural assembly 2116 include a turning mechanism enablingthem to be aligned or misaligned in order to assemble or disassemble thecovered structural assembly. Under another arrangement, the magneticfield emission structures do not include a turning mechanism.

FIGS. 22-24 depict uses of arrays of electromagnets used to produce amagnetic field emission structure that is moved in time relative to asecond magnetic field emission structure associated with an objectthereby causing the object to move.

FIG. 22 depicts a table 2202 having a two-dimensional electromagneticarray 2204 beneath its surface as seen via a cutout. On the table 2202is a movement platform 2206 comprising at least one table contact member2208. The movement platform 2206 is shown having four table contactmembers 2208 each having a magnetic field emission structure 1802 b thatwould be attracted by the electromagnet array 2204. Computerized controlof the states of individual electromagnets of the electromagnet array2204 determines whether they are on or off and determines theirpolarity. A first example 2210 depicts states of the electromagneticarray 2204 configured to cause one of the table contact members 2208 toattract to a subset of the electromagnets corresponding to the magneticfield emission structure 1802 a. A second example 2212 depicts differentstates of the electromagnetic array 2204 configured to cause the tablecontact member 2208 to be attracted (i.e., move) to a different subsetof the electromagnetic corresponding to the magnetic field emissionstructure 1802 a. Per the two examples, one skilled in the art canrecognize that the table contact member(s) can be moved about table 2202by varying the states of the electromagnets of the electromagnetic array2204.

FIG. 23 depicts a first cylinder 2302 slightly larger than a secondcylinder 2304 contained inside the first cylinder 2302. A magnetic fieldemission structure 2306 is placed around the first cylinder 2302 (oroptionally around the second cylinder 2304). An array of electromagnets(not shown) is associated with the second cylinder 2304 (or optionallythe first cylinder 2302) and their states are controlled to create amoving mirror image magnetic field emission structure to which themagnetic field emission structure 2306 is attracted so as to cause thefirst cylinder 2302 (or optionally the second cylinder 2304) to rotaterelative to the second cylinder 2304 (or optionally the first cylinder2302). The magnetic field emission structures 2308, 2310, and 2312produced by the electromagnetic array at time t=n, t=n+1, and t=n+2,show a pattern mirroring that of the magnetic field emission structure2306 around the first cylinder 2302. The pattern is shown movingdownward in time so as to cause the first cylinder 2302 to rotatecounterclockwise. As such, the speed and direction of movement of thefirst cylinder 2302 (or the second cylinder 2304) can be controlled viastate changes of the electromagnets making up the electromagnetic array.Also depicted in FIG. 23 is a electromagnetic array 2314 thatcorresponds to a track that can be placed on a surface such that amoving mirror image magnetic field emission structure can be used tomove the first cylinder 2302 backward or forward on the track using thesame code shift approach shown with magnetic field emission structures2308, 2310, and 2312.

FIG. 24 depicts a first sphere 2402 slightly larger than a second sphere2404 contained inside the first sphere 2402. A magnetic field emissionstructure 2406 is placed around the first sphere 2402 (or optionallyaround the second sphere 2404). An array of electromagnets (not shown)is associated with the second sphere 2404 (or optionally the firstsphere 2402) and their states are controlled to create a moving mirrorimage magnetic field emission structure to which the magnetic fieldemission structure 2406 is attracted so as to cause the first sphere2402 (or optionally the second sphere 2404) to rotate relative to thesecond sphere 2404 (or optionally the first sphere 2402). The magneticfield emission structures 2408, 2410, and 2412 produced by theelectromagnetic array at time t=n, t=n+1, and t=n+2, show a patternmirroring that of the magnetic field emission structure 2406 around thefirst sphere 2402. The pattern is shown moving downward in time so as tocause the first sphere 2402 to rotate counterclockwise and forward. Assuch, the speed and direction of movement of the first sphere 2402 (orthe second sphere 2404) can be controlled via state changes of theelectromagnets making up the electromagnetic array. Also note that theelectromagnets and/or magnetic field emission structure could extend soas to completely cover the surface(s) of the first and/or second spheres2402, 2404 such that the movement of the first sphere 2402 (or secondsphere 2404) can be controlled in multiple directions along multipleaxes. Also depicted in FIG. 24 is an electromagnetic array 2414 thatcorresponds to a track that can be placed on a surface such that movingmagnetic field emission structure can be used to move first sphere 2402backward or forward on the track using the same code shift approachshown with magnetic field emission structures 2408, 2410, and 2412. Acylinder 2416 is shown having a first electromagnetic array 2414a and asecond electromagnetic array 2414b which would control magnetic fieldemission structures to cause sphere 2402 to move backward or forward inthe cylinder.

FIGS. 25-27 depict a correlating surface being wrapped back on itself toform either a cylinder (disc, wheel), a sphere, and a conveyorbelt/tracked structure that when moved relative to a mirror imagecorrelating surface will achieve strong traction and a holding (orgripping) force. Any of these rotary devices can also be operatedagainst other rotary correlating surfaces to provide gear-likeoperation. Since the hold-down force equals the traction force, thesegears can be loosely connected and still give positive, non-slippingrotational accuracy. Correlated surfaces can be perfectly smooth andstill provide positive, non-slip traction. As such, they can be made ofany substance including hard plastic, glass, stainless steel or tungstencarbide. In contrast to legacy friction-based wheels the traction forceprovided by correlated surfaces is independent of the friction forcesbetween the traction wheel and the traction surface and can be employedwith low friction surfaces. Devices moving about based on magnetictraction can be operated independently of gravity for example inweightless conditions including space, underwater, vertical surfaces andeven upside down.

If the surface in contact with the cylinder is in the form of a belt,then the traction force can be made very strong and still benon-slipping and independent of belt tension. It can replace, forexample, toothed, flexible belts that are used when absolutely noslippage is permitted. In a more complex application the moving belt canalso be the correlating surface for self-mobile devices that employcorrelating wheels. If the conveyor belt is mounted on a movable vehiclein the manner of tank treads then it can provide formidable traction toa correlating surface or to any of the other rotating surfaces describedhere.

FIG. 25 depicts an alternative approach to that shown in FIG. 23. InFIG. 25 a cylinder 2302 having a first magnetic field emission structure2306 and being turned clockwise or counter-clockwise by some force willroll along a second magnetic field emission structure 2502 having mirrorcoding as the first magnetic field emission structure 2306. Thus,whereas in FIG. 23, an electromagnetic array was shifted in time tocause forward or backward movement, the fixed magnetic field emissionstructure 2502 values provide traction and a gripping (i.e., holding)force as cylinder 2302 is turned by another mechanism (e.g., a motor).The gripping force would remain substantially constant as the cylindermoved down the track independent of friction or gravity and couldtherefore be used to move an object about a track that moved up a wall,across a ceiling, or in any other desired direction within the limits ofthe gravitational force (as a function of the weight of the object)overcoming the spatial force of the aligning magnetic field emissionstructures. The approach of FIG. 25 can also be combined with theapproach of FIG. 23 whereby a first cylinder having an electromagneticarray is used to turn a second cylinder having a magnetic field emissionstructure that also achieves traction and a holding force with a mirrorimage magnetic field emission structure corresponding to a track.

FIG. 26 depicts an alternative approach to that shown in FIG. 24. InFIG. 26 a sphere 2402 having a first magnetic field emission structure2406 and being turned clockwise or counter-clockwise by some force willroll along a second magnetic field emission structure 2602 having mirrorcoding as the first magnetic field emission structure 2406. Thus,whereas in FIG. 24, an electromagnetic array was shifted in time tocause forward or backward movement, the fixed second magnetic fieldemission structure 2602 values provide traction and a gripping (i.e.,holding) force as sphere 2402 is turned by another mechanism (e.g., amotor). The gripping force would remain substantially constant as thesphere 2402 moved down the track independent of friction or gravity andcould therefore be used to move an object about a track that moved up awall, across a ceiling, or in any other desired direction within thelimits of the gravitational force (as a function of the weight of theobject) overcoming the spatial force of the aligning magnetic fieldemission structures. A cylinder 2416 is shown having a first magneticfield emission structure 2602 a and second magnetic field emissionstructure 2602 b which have mirror coding as magnetic field emissionstructure 2406. As such they work together to provide a gripping forcecausing sphere 2402 to move backward or forward in the cylinder 2416with precision alignment.

FIG. 27 a and FIG. 27 b depict an arrangement where a first magneticfield emission structure 2702 wraps around two cylinders 2302 such thata much larger portion 2704 of the first magnetic field emissionstructure is in contact with a second magnetic field emission structure2502 having mirror coding as the first magnetic field emission structure2702. As such, the larger portion 2704 directly corresponds to a largergripping force.

An alternative approach for using a correlating surface is to have amagnetic field emission structure on an object (e.g, an athlete's orastronaut's shoe) that is intended to partially correlate with thecorrelating surface regardless of how the surface and the magnetic fieldemission structure are aligned. Essentially, correlation areas would berandomly placed such the object (shoe) would achieve partial correlation(gripping force) as it comes randomly in contact with the surface. Forexample, a runner on a track wearing shoes having a magnetic fieldemission structure with partial correlation encoding could receive sometraction from the partial correlations that would occur as the runnerwas running on a correlated track.

FIGS. 28 a through 28 d depict a manufacturing method for producingmagnetic field emission structures. In FIG. 28 a, a first magnetic fieldemission structure 1802 a comprising an array of individual magnets isshown below a ferromagnetic material 2800 a (e.g., iron) that is tobecome a second magnetic field emission structure having the same codingas the first magnetic field emission structure 1802 a. In FIG. 28 b, theferromagnetic material 2800 a has been heated to its Curie temperature(for antiferromagnetic materials this would instead be the Neeltemperature). The ferromagnetic material 2800 a is then brought incontact with the first magnetic field emission structure 1802 a andallowed to cool. Thereafter, the ferromagnetic material 2800 a takes onthe same magnetic field emission structure properties of the firstmagnetic field emission structure 1802 a and becomes a magnetizedferromagnetic material 2800 b, which is itself a magnetic field emissionstructure, as shown in FIG. 28 c. As depicted in FIG. 28 d, shouldanother ferromagnetic material 2800 a be heated to its Curie temperatureand then brought in contact with the magnetized ferromagnetic material2800 b, it too will take on the magnetic field emission structureproperties of the magnetized ferromagnetic material 2800 b as previouslyshown in FIG. 28 c.

An alternative method of manufacturing a magnetic field emissionstructure from a ferromagnetic material would be to use one or morelasers to selectively heat up field emission source locations on theferromagnetic material to the Curie temperature and then subject thelocations to a magnetic field. With this approach, the magnetic field towhich a heated field emission source location may be subjected may havea constant polarity or have a polarity varied in time so as to code therespective source locations as they are heated and cooled.

To produce superconductive magnet field structures, a correlatedmagnetic field emission structure would be frozen into a superconductive material without current present when it is cooled below itscritical temperature.

FIG. 29 depicts the addition of two intermediate layers 2902 to amagnetic field emission structure 2800 b. Each intermediate layer 2902is intended to smooth out (or suppress) spatial forces when any twomagnetic field emission structures are brought together such thatsidelobe effects are substantially shielded. An intermediate layer 2902can be active (i.e., saturable such as iron) or inactive (i.e., air orplastic).

FIGS. 30 a through 30 c provide a side view, an oblique projection, anda top view, respectively, of a magnetic field emission structure 2800 bhaving a surrounding heat sink material 3000 and an embedded killmechanism comprising an embedded wire (e.g., nichrome) coil 3002 havingconnector leads 3004. As such, if heat is applied from outside themagnetic field emission structure 2800 b, the heat sink material 3000prevents magnets of the magnetic field emission structure from reachingtheir Curie temperature. However, should it be desirable to kill themagnetic field emission structure, a current can be applied to connectorleads 3004 to cause the wire coil 3002 to heat up to the Curietemperature. Generally, various types of heat sink and/or killmechanisms can be employed to enable control over whether a givenmagnetic field emission structure is subjected to heat at or above theCurie temperature. For example, instead of embedding a wire coil, anichrome wire might be plated onto individual magnets.

FIG. 31 a depicts an oblique projection of a first pair of magneticfield emission structures 3102 and a second pair of magnetic fieldemission structures 3104 each having magnets indicated by dashed lines.Above the second pair of magnetic field emission structures 3104 (shownwith magnets) is another magnetic field emission structure where themagnets are not shown, which is intended to provide clarity to theinterpretation of the depiction of the two magnetic field emissionstructures 3104 below. Also shown are top views of the circumferences ofthe first and second pair of magnetic field emission structures 3102 and3104. As shown, the first pair of magnetic field emission structures3102 have a relatively small number of relatively large (and stronger)magnets when compared to the second pair of magnetic field emissionstructures 3104 that have a relatively large number of relatively small(and weaker) magnets. For this figure, the peak spatial force for eachof the two pairs of magnetic field emission structures 3102 and 3104 arethe same. However, the distances D1 and D2 at which the magnetic fieldsof each of the pairs of magnetic field emission structures 3102 and 3104substantially interact (shown by up and down arrows) depends on thestrength of the magnets and the area over which they are distributed. Assuch, the much larger surface of the second magnetic field emissionstructure 3104 having much smaller magnets will not substantiallyattract until much closer than that of first magnetic field emissionstructure 3102. This magnetic strength per unit area attribute as wellas a magnetic spatial frequency (i.e., # magnetic reversals per unitarea) can be used to design structures to meet safety requirements. Forexample, two magnetic field emission structures 3104 can be designed tonot have significant attraction force if a finger is between them (or inother words the structures wouldn't have significant attraction forceuntil they are substantially close together thereby reducing (if notpreventing) the opportunity/likelihood for body parts or other thingssuch as clothing getting caught in between the structures).

FIG. 31 b depicts a magnetic field emission structure 3106 made up of asparse array of large magnetic sources 3108 combined with a large numberof smaller magnetic sources 3110 whereby alignment with a mirror imagemagnetic field emission structure would be provided by the large sourcesand a repel force would be provided by the smaller sources. Generally,as was the case with FIG. 31 a, the larger (i.e., stronger) magnetsachieve a significant attraction force (or repelling force) at a greaterseparation distance than smaller magnets. Because of thischaracteristic, combinational structures having magnetic sources ofdifferent strengths can be constructed that effectively have two (ormore) spatial force functions corresponding to the different levels ofmagnetic strengths employed. As the magnetic field emission structuresare brought closer together, the spatial force function of the strongestmagnets is first to engage and the spatial force functions of the weakermagnets will engage when the magnetic field emission structures aremoved close enough together at which the spatial force functions of thedifferent sized magnets will combine. Referring back to FIG. 31 b, thesparse array of stronger magnets 3108 is coded such that it cancorrelate with a mirror image sparse array of comparable magnets.However, the number and polarity of the smaller (i.e., weaker) magnets3110 can be tailored such that when the two magnetic field emissionstructures are substantially close together, the magnetic force of thesmaller magnets can overtake that of the larger magnets 3108 such thatan equilibrium will be achieved at some distance between the twomagnetic field emission structures. As such, alignment can be providedby the stronger magnets 3108 but contact of the two magnetic fieldemission structures can be prevented by the weaker magnets 3110.Similarly, the smaller, weaker magnets can be used to add extraattraction strength between the two magnetic field emission structures.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the all sorts of differentcombinations of magnets having different strengths can be oriented invarious ways to achieve desired spatial forces as a function oforientation and separation distance between two magnetic field emissionstructures. For example, a similar aligned attract—repel equilibriummight be achieved by grouping the sparse array of larger magnets 3108tightly together in the center of magnetic field emission structure3106. Moreover, combinations of correlated and non-correlated magnetscan be used together, for example, the weaker magnets 3110 of FIG. 31 bmay all be uncorrelated magnets. Furthermore, one skilled in the artwill recognize that such an equilibrium enables frictionless traction(or hold) forces to be maintained and that such techniques could beemployed for many of the exemplary drawings provided herein. Forexample, the magnetic field emission structures of the two spheres shownin FIG. 24 could be configured such that the spheres never come intodirect contact, which could be used, for example, to producefrictionless ball joints.

FIG. 32 depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure assemblyapparatus comprising one or more vacuum tweezers 3202 that are capableof placing magnets 100 a and 100 b having first and second polaritiesinto machined holes 3204 in a support frame 3206. Magnets 100 a and 100b are taken from at least one magnet supplying device 3208 and insertedinto holes 3204 of support frame 3206 in accordance with a desired code.Under one arrangement, two magnetic tweezers are employed with eachbeing integrated with its own magnet supply device 3208 allowing thevacuum tweezers 3202 to only move to the next hole 3204 whereby a magnetis fed into vacuum tweezers 3202 from inside the device. Magnets 100 aand 100 b may be held in place in a support frame 3206 using an adhesive(e.g., a glue). Alternatively, holes 3204 and magnets 100 a and 100 bcould have threads whereby vacuum tweezers 3202 or an alternativeinsertion tool would screw them into place. A completed magnetic fieldassembly 3210 is also depicted in FIG. 32. Under an alternativearrangement the vacuum tweezers would place more than one magnet into aframe 3206 at a time to include placing all magnets at one time. Understill another arrangement, an array of coded electromagnets 3212 is usedto pick up and place at one time all the magnets 3214 to be placed intothe frame 3206 where the magnets are provided by a magnet supplyingdevice 3216 that resembles the completed magnetic field assembly 3210such that magnets are fed into each supplying hole from beneath (asshown in 3208) and where the coded electromagnets attract the entirearray of loose magnets. With this approach the array of electromagnets3212 may be recessed such that there is a guide 3218 for each loosemagnet as is the case with the bottom portion of the vacuum tweezers3202. With this approach, an entire group of loose magnets can beinserted into a frame 3206 and when a previously applied sealant hasdried sufficiently the array of electromagnets 3212 can be turned so asto release the now placed magnets. Under an alternative arrangement themagnetic field emission structure assembly apparatus would be put underpressure. Vacuum can also be used to hold magnets into a support frame3206.

As described above, vacuum tweezers can be used to handle the magnetsduring automatic placement manufacturing. However, the force of vacuum,i.e. 14.7 psi, on such a small surface area may not be enough to competewith the magnetic force. If necessary, the whole manufacturing unit canbe put under pressure. The force of a vacuum is a function of thepressure of the medium. If the workspace is pressurize to 300 psi (about20 atmospheres) the force on a tweezer tip 1/16″ across would be about 1pound which depending on the magnetic strength of a magnet might besufficient to compete with its magnetic force. Generally, the psi can beincreased to whatever is needed to produce the holding force necessaryto manipulate the magnets.

If the substrate that the magnets are placed in have tiny holes in theback then vacuum can also be used to hold them in place until the finalprocess affixes them permanently with, for example, ultraviolet curingglue. Alternatively, the final process by involve heating the substrateto fuse them all together, or coating the whole face with a sealant andthen wiping it clean (or leaving a thin film over the magnet faces)before curing. The vacuum gives time to manipulate the assembly whilewaiting for whatever adhesive or fixative is used.

FIG. 33 depicts a cylinder 2302 having a first magnetic field emissionstructure 2306 on the outside of the cylinder where the code pattern1402 a is repeated six times around the cylinder. Beneath the cylinder2302 is an object 3302 having a curved surface with a slightly largercurvature as does the cylinder 2302 (such as the curvature of cylinder2304) and having a second magnetic field emission structure 3304 that isalso coded using the code pattern 1402 a. The cylinder 2302 is turned ata rotational rate of 1 rotation per second by shaft 3306. Thus, as thecylinder 2302 turns, six times a second the code pattern 1402 a of thefirst magnetic field emission structure 2306 of the cylinder 2302 alignswith the second magnetic field emission structure 3304 of the object3302 causing the object 3302 to be repelled (i.e., moved downward) bythe peak spatial force function of the two magnetic field emissionstructures 2306, 3304. Similarly, had the second magnetic field emissionstructure 3304 been coded using code pattern 1402 b, then 6 times asecond the code pattern 1402 a of the first magnetic field emissionstructure 2306 of the cylinder 2302 aligns with the second magneticfield emission structure 3304 of the object 3302 causing the object 3302to be attracted (i.e., moved upward) by the peak spatial force functionof the two magnetic field emission structures. Thus, the movement of thecylinder 2302 and corresponding first magnetic field emission structure2306 can be used to control the movement of the object 3302 having itscorresponding second magnetic field emission structure 3304. Additionalmagnetic field emission structures and/or other devices capable ofcontrolling movement (e.g., springs) can also be used to controlmovement of the object 3302 based upon the movement of the firstmagnetic field emission structure 2306 of the cylinder 2302. One skilledin the art will recognize that a shaft 3306 may be turned as a result ofwind turning a windmill, a water wheel or turbine, ocean wave movement,and other methods whereby movement of the object 3302 can result fromsome source of energy scavenging. Another example of energy scavengingthat could result in movement of object 3302 based on magnetic fieldemission structures is a wheel of a vehicle that would correspond to acylinder 2302 where the shaft 3306 would correspond to the wheel axle.Generally, the present invention can be used in accordance with one ormore movement path functions of one or more objects each associated withone or more magnetic field emission structures, where each movement pathfunction defines the location and orientation over time of at least oneof the one or more objects and thus the corresponding location andorientation over time of the one or more magnetic field emissionstructures associated with the one or more objects. Furthermore, thespatial force functions of the magnetic field emission structures can becontrolled over time in accordance with such movement path functions aspart of a process which may be controlled in an open-loop or closed-loopmanner. For example, the location of a magnetic field emission structureproduced using an electromagnetic array may be moved, the coding of sucha magnetic field emission structure can be changed, the strengths ofmagnetic sources can be varied, etc. As such, the present inventionenables the spatial forces between objects to be precisely controlled inaccordance with their movement and also enables movement of objects tobe precisely controlled in accordance with such spatial forces.

FIG. 34 depicts a valve mechanism 3400 based upon the sphere of FIG. 24where a magnetic field emission structure 2414 is varied to move thesphere 2402 upward or downward in a cylinder having a first opening 3404having a circumference less than or equal to that of a sphere 2402 and asecond opening 3406 having a circumference greater than the sphere 2402.As such, a magnetic field emission structure 2414 can be varied such asdescribed in relation to FIG. 24 to control the movement of the sphere2402 so as to control the flow rate of a gas or liquid through the valve3402. Similarly, a valve mechanism 3400 can be used as a pressurecontrol valve. Furthermore, the ability to move an object within anotherobject having a decreasing size enables various types of sealingmechanisms that can be used for the sealing of windows, refrigerators,freezers, food storage containers, boat hatches, submarine hatches,etc., where the amount of sealing force can be precisely controlled. Oneskilled in the art will recognized that many different types of sealmechanisms to include gaskets, o-rings, and the like can be employedwith the present invention.

FIG. 35 depicts a cylinder apparatus 3500 where a movable object such assphere 2042 or closed cylinder 3502 having a first magnetic fieldemission structure 2406 is moved in a first direction or in secondopposite direction in a cylinder 2416 having second magnetic fieldemission structure 2414 a (and optionally 2414 b). By sizing the movableobject (e.g., a sphere or a closed cylinder) such that an effective sealis maintained in cylinder 2416, the cylinder apparatus 3500 can be usedas a hydraulic cylinder, pneumatic cylinder, or gas cylinder. In asimilar arrangement cylinder apparatus 3500 can be used as a pumpingdevice.

As described herein, magnetic field emission structures can be producedwith any desired arrangement of magnetic (or electric) field sources.Such sources may be placed against each other, placed in a sparse array,placed on top of, below, or within surfaces that may be flat or curved.Such sources may be in multiple layers (or planes), may have desireddirectionality characteristics, and so on. Generally, by varyingpolarities, positions, and field strengths of individual field sourcesover time, one skilled in the art can use the present invention toachieve numerous desired attributes. Such attributes include, forexample:

-   -   Precision alignment, position control, and movement control    -   Non-wearing attachment    -   Repeatable and consistent behavior    -   Frictionless holding force/traction    -   Ease/speed/accuracy of assembly/disassembly    -   Increased architectural strength    -   Reduced training requirements    -   Increased safety    -   Increased reliability    -   Ability to control the range of force    -   Quantifiable, sustainable spatial forces (e.g., holding force,        sealing force, etc.)    -   Increased maintainability/lifetime    -   Efficiency

FIGS. 36 a through 36 g provide a few more examples of how magneticfield sources can be arranged to achieve desirable spatial forcefunction characteristics. FIG. 36 a depicts an exemplary magnetic fieldemission structure 3600 made up of rings about a circle. As shown, eachring comprises one magnet having an identified polarity. Similarstructures could be produced using multiple magnets in each ring, whereeach of the magnets in a given ring is the same polarity as the othermagnets in the ring, or each ring could comprise correlated magnets.Generally, circular rings, whether single layer or multiple layer, andwhether with or without spaces between the rings, can be used forelectrical, fluid, and gas connectors, and other purposes where theycould be configured to have a basic property such that the larger thering, the harder it would be to twist the connector apart. As shown inFIG. 36 b, one skilled in the art would recognize that a hinge 3602could be constructed using alternating magnetic field emissionstructures attached two objects where the magnetic field emissionstructures would be interleaved so that they would align (i.e.,effectively lock) but they would still pivot about an axes extendingthough their innermost circles. FIG. 36 c depicts an exemplary magneticfield emission structure 3604 having sources resembling spokes of awheel. FIG. 36 d depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure3606 resembling a rotary encoder where instead of on and off encoding,the sources are encoded such that their polarities vary. The use of amagnetic field emission structure in accordance with the presentinvention instead of on and off encoding should eliminate alignmentproblems of conventional rotary encoders.

FIG. 36 e depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure havingsources arranged as curved spokes. FIG. 36 f depicts an exemplarymagnetic field emission structure made up of hexagon-shaped sources.FIG. 36 g depicts an exemplary magnetic field emission structure made upof triangular sources. FIG. 36 h depicts an exemplary magnetic fieldemission structure made up of partially overlapped diamond-shapedsources. Generally, the sources making up a magnetic field emissionstructure can have any shape and multiple shapes can be used within agiven magnetic field emission structure. Under one arrangement, one ormore magnetic field emission structures correspond to a Fractal code.

Exemplary applications of the invention:

-   -   Position based function control.    -   Gyroscope, Linear motor, Fan motor.    -   Precision measurement, precision timing    -   Computer numerical control machines.    -   Linear actuators, linear stages, rotation stages, goniometers,        mirror mounts.    -   Cylinders, turbines, engines (no heat allows lightweight        materials).    -   Seals for food storage.    -   Scaffolding.    -   Structural beams, trusses, cross-bracing.    -   Bridge construction materials (trusses).    -   Wall structures (studs, panels, etc.), floors, ceilings, roofs.    -   Magnetic shingles for roofs.    -   Furniture (assembly and positioning).    -   Picture frames, picture hangers.    -   Child safety seats.    -   Seat belts, harnesses, trapping.    -   Wheelchairs, hospital beds.    -   Toys—self assembling toys, puzzles, construction sets (e.g.,        Legos, magnetic logs).    -   Hand tools—cutting, nail driving, drilling, sawing, etc.    -   Precision machine tools—drill press, lathes, mills, machine        press.    -   Robotic movement control.    -   Assembly lines—object movement control, automated parts        assembly.    -   Packaging machinery.    -   Wall hangers—for tools, brooms, ladders, etc.    -   Pressure control systems, Precision hydraulics.    -   Traction devices (e.g., window cleaner that climbs building).    -   Gas/Liquid flow rate control systems, ductwork, ventilation        control systems.    -   Door/window seal, boat/ship/submarine/space craft hatch seal.    -   Hurricane/storm shutters, quick assembly home tornado shelters.    -   Gate Latch—outdoor gate (dog proof), Child safety gate latch        (child proof).    -   Clothing buttons, Shoe/boot clasps.    -   Drawer/cabinet door fasteners.    -   Child safety devices—lock mechanisms for appliances, toilets,        etc.    -   Safes, safe prescription drug storage.    -   Quick capture/release commercial fishing nets, crab cages.    -   Energy conversion—wind, falling water, wave movement.    -   Energy scavenging—from wheels, etc.    -   Microphone, speaker.    -   Applications in space (e.g., seals, gripping places for        astronauts to hold/stand).    -   Analog-to-digital (and vice versa) conversion via magnetic field        control.    -   Use of correlation codes to affect circuit characteristics in        silicon chips.    -   Use of correlation codes to effect attributes of nanomachines        (force, torque, rotation, and translations).    -   Ball joints for prosthetic knees, shoulders, hips, ankles,        wrists, etc.    -   Ball joints for robotic arms.    -   Robots that move along correlated magnetic field tracks.    -   Correlated gloves, shoes.    -   Correlated robotic “hands” (all sorts of mechanisms used to        move, place, lift, direct, etc. objects could use invention).    -   Communications/symbology.    -   Skis, skateboards.    -   Keys, locking mechanisms.    -   Cargo containers (how they are made and how they are moved).    -   Credit, debit, and ATM cards.    -   Magnetic data storage, floppy disks, hard drives, CDs, DVDs.    -   Scanners, printers, plotters.    -   Televisions and computer monitors.    -   Electric motors, generators, transformers.    -   Chucks, fastening devices, clamps.    -   Secure Identification Tags.    -   Door hinges.    -   Jewelry, watches.    -   Vehicle braking systems.    -   Maglev trains and other vehicles.    -   Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance        Spectroscopy.    -   Bearings (wheels), axles.    -   Particle accelerators.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been described, itwill be understood, however, that the invention is not limited thereto,since modifications may be made by those skilled in the art,particularly in light of the foregoing teachings.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A magnetic attachment system, comprising: afirst magnetic structure comprising a first plurality of magneticelements, said magnetic structure having a first side corresponding toan interface boundary for interfacing said first magnetic structure to asecond magnetic structure having a second plurality of magnetic elementscomplementary to said first plurality of magnetic elements, said firstmagnetic structure having a second side opposite of said first side,said first magnetic structure and said second magnetic structure beingin accordance with a spatial force function comprising a peak spatialforce corresponding to alignment of said first magnetic structure andsaid second magnetic structure and a plurality of off peak forcescorresponding to a plurality of misalignments of said first magneticstructure and said second magnetic structure, said plurality of off peakspatial forces comprising a plurality of release forces resulting fromcancellation of at least one attract force by at least one repel force,each release force of said plurality of release forces being one of anattract force or a repel force; and a first intermediate layerconfigured next to said first side of said first magnetic structure,said first intermediate layer being a magnetically inactive intermediatelayer that suppresses spatial forces by separating said first magneticstructure and said second magnetic structure; and a second intermediatelayer configured next to said second side of said first magneticstructure, said second intermediate layer being a magnetically activeintermediate layer.
 2. The magnetic attachment system of claim 1,wherein side lobe effects are substantially shielded by said firstintermediate layer.
 3. The magnetic attachment system of claim 1,wherein said second intermediate layer comprises a magneticallysaturable material.
 4. The magnetic attachment system of claim 1,wherein said first plurality of magnetic elements produce a magneticfield corresponding to a Barker 4 sequence.
 5. The magnetic attachmentsystem of claim 1, further comprising: a movement constrainingmechanism.
 6. The magnetic attachment system of claim 5, wherein saidmovement constraining mechanism constrains movement of said firstmagnetic structure to one degree of freedom.
 7. The magnetic attachmentsystem of claim 6, wherein said first magnetic structure can moveperpendicular to said interface boundary.
 8. The magnetic attachmentsystem of claim 5, wherein said movement constraining mechanismcomprises one of more walls of a container.
 9. The magnetic attachmentsystem of claim 1, further comprising: a spring for controlling movementof said first magnetic structure.
 10. The magnetic attachment system ofclaim 1, wherein said first magnetic structure is associated with afirst object and said second magnetic structure is associated with asecond object, said first magnetic structure and said second magneticstructure enabling attachment of said first object to said second objectand detachment of said first object from said second object.
 11. Themagnetic attachment system of claim 10, wherein said second object is acover.
 12. The magnetic attachment system of claim 10, wherein saidfirst object comprises one of a glass surface or a plastic surface. 13.The magnetic attachment system of claim 12, wherein said second objectprovides a covering of said glass surface or said plastic surface. 14.The magnetic attachment system of claim 1, wherein said first pluralityof magnetic elements comprises the polarity pattern ‘+−+’.
 15. Themagnetic attachment system of claim 1, wherein said first plurality ofmagnetic elements comprises the polarity pattern ‘−+−’.
 16. The magneticattachment system of claim 1, wherein said first plurality of magneticelements comprises magnets having different widths.
 17. The magneticattachment system of claim 1, wherein said first plurality of magneticelements is a linear sequence.
 18. The magnetic attachment system ofclaim 1, further comprising: a hinge.
 19. The magnetic attachment systemof claim 1, further comprising: a third magnetic structure, said thirdmagnetic structure comprising a third plurality of magnetic elements ina straight line with said first plurality of magnetic elements, saidfirst magnetic structure and said third magnetic structure beingseparated by a spacing.
 20. The magnetic attachment system of claim 19,wherein said third magnetic structure is the mirror image of said firstmagnetic structure.
 21. The magnetic attachment system of claim 20,wherein said mirror image is rotated 180 degrees.